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THE BLACK CATS 
AND THE TINKER’S WIFE 




THE BLACK CATS 

AND THE 

TINKER’S WIFE 

By 

MARGARET BAKER 

M 

WITH PICTURES BY 
MARY BAKER 



> , ' 

NEW YORK 

DUFFIELD & COMPANY 

1923 



Copyright, 1923, by 
DUFFIELD & COMPANY 



Printed in the United States of America 

OCT 20 23 

©C1A759477 

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THE BLACK CATS 


AND THE TINKER’S WIFE 




THE BLACK CATS 
AND THE TINKER’S WIFE 

Once upon a time there was a tinker; 
he tramped about the country with his 
bundle of tools slung over his shoulder, 
and his little wife tramped beside him. 

Would you like to know what was in 
the bundle she carried? Why a silk 
handkerchief of golden yellow to tie over 
her hair on holiday and fair-days, and a 
ball of yarn with which she was always 
knitting, and a loaf of bread, and all the 
money they had—and that was never 
more than a few silver pieces. 






Although the two bundles held all they 
possessed the tinker and his wife were as 
happy as could be, and as they trudged 
along from one farm-house to another; 
and one village to the next, he would 
whistle as merrily as a black-bird, and 
she would sing and laugh, and dance 
along the short-cropped grass by the 

r- 

roadside, poising on her pretty bare feet 
as lightly as a fairy. 

When at sound of his call some good- 
wife came out with a broken kettle, or a 
leaking pan he would sit down on the 
door-step to ment it; 











And while he worked his wife told tales 
of elves and dwarfs and water-sprites to 
the children who gathered round. 

Then when night came they would 
take their supper of bread and a little 
bowl of milk, and lie down to sleep 
wherever they could find shelter, some¬ 
times out-of-doors, sometimes in a 
cottage or barn. 





You would think there was no plea¬ 
santer way of living, yet sometimes when 
they passed through a village and saw 
through open door-ways into the cosy 
sunny little rooms where the women 
were busied about their work the tinker’s 
wife would sigh and turn to look back 
many, many times. And at that the 
tinker would sigh too and think sadly of 
how little he could earn—so little that 
perhaps he would never be able to give 
her a home at all. 








"■5 ■ 



Now one day it happened that there 
was a great storm, and towards evening 
it grew wilder and wilder; the wind came 
whirling and sweeping along*, driving the 
rain and the hail before it in blinding 
sheets. The country was bleak and bare, 
not so much as a hedge or wall behind 
which to take shelter, and presently it 
grew so dark that one could not see an 
arm’s length ahead. 

The tinker wrapped his wife in his tat¬ 
tered cloak and they struggled on and on, 
but it was weary work fighting the storm. 

Then suddenly they saw a light before 
them. 






‘'It comes from some cottage/’ said the 
tinker. “We will knock and ask shelter.” 
But when they came near they found it 
was not a cottage, but a cave. 

There was a bright fire burning within: 
above it hung an iron pot, and nearby 
stood a three-legged stool and a water- 
pitcher. 

There was nothing strange in all that, 
but there was something very odd about 
the cave all the same, for sitting round 
the fire were more black cats than could 
easily be counted—big ones and little 
ones, fat ones and lean ones. 







old ones and young ones, long-haired 
and short-haired, 



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''Ho, there within!’' cried the tinker. 

Such a flurry as there was about the 
fire! Some of the cats ran to hide them¬ 
selves, some sprang to the entrance, 
some with arched backs and stiffened 
tails stayed by the fire. 

"Ho, there, friend!” cried the tinker 
again, and as no one answered he stepped 
boldly inside and his wife followed. 

"Strange that there should be no one 
here,” said he. "And there are more cats 
than I care about myself; but on such a 
night one must be grateful for any lodg¬ 


ing. 



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So they sat down by the fire, his wife 
on the three-legged stool and he on the 
ground beside her, and they warmed 
and dried themselves. And presently 
from this corner and from that the cats 
came creeping back and sat down op¬ 
posite staring and staring with their 
great green eyes. 

'^Puss, puss, puss,'’ coaxed the tinker's 
wife; but the cats only twitched their 
ears and stared till their eyes glistened 
red as though they were on fire inside. 

^^They will be friendly enough when 
they see we wish them no harm," said 
she; and truly before long a little black 
kitten came rubbing against her foot and 
jumped into her lap. 





i 





So the night passed away and the 
storm went down and it was morning. 
The tinker’s wife packed up her little 
bundle ready to start again. 

wish—” she said, and at that all the 
cats pricked up their ears. 

wish I could give thee thy wish,” 
said the tinker. 

wish I had a little home to care for: 
I wish we mig'ht live in this cave.” 

At that the tinker laughed. ''Why, if 
that is not surprising,” said he. "It is 
the very wish I would wish myself. 
Have thy wish till someone else comes.” 

And she clapped her hands for joy. 




f 


So the tinker went down the hillside 
alone, with his bundle of tools on his 
back, and his wife stood waving good¬ 
bye as long* as she could see him. 

Then she went into the cave and swept 
down all the cob-webs with a bunch of 
heather, and chased the dust out of the 
corners, and went about and about till 
the cave was as clean and neat as could 
be. 

And the cats sat round the fire and 
stared and stared as though it was the 
most surprising thing they had ever seen. 







I 





When it drew near evening she sat out¬ 
side on the three-legged stool with her 
knitting in her hand ready to wave to 
the tinker as soon as he came in sight. 

And there he was striding up the hill, 
and she ran to meet him and brought 
him into the cave, and they sat by the fire 
as they had done before. 

^'Has not anyone come yet?’’ asked the 
tinker. 

^'No,” she answered, ^'and I am glad; 
’tis such a cosy little cave that I 
wish-” 

And at that all the cats pricked up their 


ears. 






“I wish I could give thee thy wish/’ 
said the tinker. 

'I wish we could live here always and 
that there was another three-legged stool 
then thou wouldst not need to sit on the 
ground.” 

''Why, if that is not surprising,” quoth 
the tinker. " ’Tis the very wish I would 
wish myself.” And he laughed and 
kissed her. 

"And what news have vou learnt to- 
day?” she asked. 

"Strange news,” said the tinker. 
"There lies a farm yonder with fields all 
untilled, and when I asked what had be¬ 
fallen, they told me that a witch had 
spirited away the ploughman because his 
dog chased her cat. And no one has seen 
or heard of him since.” 

At that one of the cats began a most 
mournful wailing, and all the others 
joined in. 

"Alas!” said the tinker’s wife. "What 
a sad and sorrowful tale!” 




V 






Next day again the tinker went down 
the hill-side alone and his little wife kept 
house in the cave, and went about and 
about it till it was as neat and as clean 
as could be. And when he came back 
at evening there she was sitting at the 
entrance with all the cats around her 
watching for him. 



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“Has not anyone come yet?’’ he asked 
when thev were seated bv the fire. 

''Xo,” she answered, ^'and I am glad. 
’Tis such a pleasant cave that I 
wish-” 

And at that all the cats pricked up their 
ears. 

''I wish I could give thee thy wish,” 
said the tinker. 

wish we could live here always and 
that we had a little hive of bees to gather 
honey from the heather-blossoms.” 

''X’ow if that is not surprising,” quoth 
the tinker. ^'Tis the verv wish I would 
wish myself.” And he laughed and 
kissed her. 





1 


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''And what is the news thou hast 
learnt to-day?’’ she asked. 

I' 

“Strange news/’ said the tinker. "In 
a home yonder there is an old rag doll 
and no little girl to nurse it; she made a 
face at the witch one day and no one has 
seen or heard of her since.” 

And at that the tiniest kitten began a 
most mournful wailing and all the 
others joined in. 

'Alas!” said the tinker’s wife. "What 
a sad and sorrowful tale!” 




And so it happened every day. When 
they sat by the fire at dusk the tinker’s 
wife had always a wish to wish—for a 
little goat to feed on the hill-side and 
give them milk, or for a little brown bowl 
to hold the berries she gathered; this time 
for a rose-tree to grow about the cave 
mouth, that time for a broom that she 
might sweep the dust away the better. 

And the tinker had always a sad and 
sorrowful tale to tell of people wdio had 
disappeared. There was the farmer’s 
wife wdio had given the witch a scorched 
cake of bread. 











the little boy who had called names after 
her, 



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the dairy-maid who had not curtsied to 
her, 





the strolling player whose music did not 
please her, 











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the lovers who had chosen to sit too 
near her cave to watch the moon. And 
at each of these tales one of the cats 
wonld begin to wail most dismally and 
all the others wonld join in. 







So things went on for a long, long time, 
and it would have been hard to find any¬ 
one as happy as the tinker’s wife as she 
went about and about the cave making 
it so neat and clean, or as the tinker when 
he came striding up the hillside at the 
end of the day and saw her waiting to 
wave to him. 

Now sometimes when the tinker told 
his strange tales his wife would begin to 
wonder and ponder. And ''Can it be?” 
and "If it should be so—” said she, and 
then she would stop and shake her head 
and sigh. 

One night she sat thinking longer than 
ever, and then—"I wonder what happen¬ 
ed to them when they disappeared,” and 
again—"Is it not more than a little 
strange that there are so many cats here, 
and all black?” And at last "I wish-” 






A 




I 


wish I could give thee thy wish/’ 
said the tinker. 

wish these cats were chang-ed back 
into what they ought to be.” 

And behold! In less than the flick of 
an eyelid there they stood—the little girl 
who had made a face, the boy who had 
called names, the ploughman, the lovers, 
the dairy-maid and all the rest. 

It would take a long, long time to tell 
how they thanked the tinker and his wife, 
how they laughed and cried for joy, and 
ho w happy they all were. 











think my wish should come true/^ 
marvelled the tinker’s wife. 

‘‘All good wishes come true sometime,” 
quoth the tinker. 

“There is another shall come true,” 
cried the farmer’s wife, “for as quickly as 
it can be led up the hillside my best goat 
shall be yours.” 

“And I will bring my little brown 
bowl,” said the little girl. 

“And I will make the finest three-leg¬ 
ged stool that ever was seen,” said the 
ploughman. 

And in the same way spoke all of them. 

‘ But if this is the witch’s cave, why has 
she not come back?” asked the tinker. 
But that was a question they could not 
answer. 

But I can tell you why: she was blown 
right off her broom-stick in that terrible 
storm. 




“Suppose I had wished my wish long 
ago, would it have come true then?’' 
asked the tinker’s wife. 

And that was another question they 
could not answer—neither can I, though 
I know that in the end good-temper and 
happiness will always break evil spells. 

Presently the tinker was startled to feel 
something come rubbing against his leg. 

“Here is a cat which has not changed,” 
he cried. 




w 




“1 cannot have wished hard enough,” 
said his wife; so she wished again and 
again and she wished this way, and she 
wished that way, but nothing happened. 

“He must be a real cat,” she said. And 
so they all agreed. 

“Then he shall live with us always,” 
said the tinker. 





So the tinker and his wife and the black 
cat lived together in the cave and were as 
happy as could be all the rest of their 
lives. And never another wish did the 
tinker’s wife have to wish, for all her 
other wishes came true and she had 
everything she wanted. 

And that is the end of the story. 













































